While Sorting Through Boxes -

Prior to moving to Philippines three years ago, my wife and I shipped several balikbayan boxes here containing everything we could possibly send. Of course, we have limited space in our present apartment and some of the balikbayan boxes are being stored at my in-law's house.

Over the weekend, my wife went to her parent's home to see what, if anything, we could bring to the apartment. Among the books, dishes and other assorted items, there was a metal pyramid that I made in 1979. I was working for a sheet-metal company at the time. Outside of work, I was interested in odd geometric structures like geodesic domes and pyramids. The sheet metal domes I made at the time have not survived. I put together this pyramid while at work during my lunch break, cutting pieces of sheet metal into the four triangles and welding them together.

Who would have imagined that a pyramid would appear amid the items sent from the U.S.A?

Volkswagen Beetles in Dumaguete

Before moving to Philippines from the U.S.of A. I looked into the possibility of bringing my automobiles with me. It wasn't that I had anything particularly fancy, but I thought that it might be an option, if the price was right.

I was soon disabused of that notion. With the high taxes and restrictions on what vehicles can be brought into the country, I saw that the cost was far too prohibitive for my budget. Because of the practical impossibility of bringing a used car here, I was surprised to find a relatively large number of Volkswagen Beetles being driven around in the Dumaguete area.

It's not like there are a gazillion here, but three of the five photos posted here were taken this afternoon after I had decided to start taking random photos of the Beetles I come across. Those three photos were also taken within the municipality of Sibulan - contrary to the title of this post.

As a general rule, I rarely go out without my camera and a spare battery. Now that I've posted these five Beetles, I'll put forth an effort to photograph more Beetles that I see.

Game Seven

After the Cleveland Indians won game 4 of the World Series - putting them ahead of the Chicago Cubs 3 games to one - I really expected the Indians to win the series. After all, at that point, they needed only one more win while Chicago needed all three of the remaining games. I absolutely did not expect the series to go to the full seven games. It never crossed my mind at the beginning that the seventh game would go into 10 innings.

The only downside to watching the games on Philippine time is that if the game is played on a school day, I'll have to fetch my son from school for lunch before the game is over. I always have to leave the apartment during either the 8th or 9th inning. Today, I left the apartment at the top of the ninth while the score was still tied 6-6.

I was plesantly surprised when we arrived from school to find that there was a 10th inning rain dely. The game resumed while we were there. Sadly, I was home when the Cubs took 2 runs in the 10th. I had to take my son back to school before the Indians had their 10th inning.

When I returned from school the 2nd time the game was finally over. I'd wanted the Indians to win. Even though they lost the final game, it was something that they were able to bring it down to a one run win.

Games 3 and 4

Due to major time zone differences, Saturday morning here was when Game 3 of the 2016 World Series was shown live on Fox Sports 2. During Game 1, I started out as a neutral observer but was quickly impressed with the Cleveland Indians performance. Upon learning that Hillary Clinton was reported to be a fan of the Chicago Cubs, I decided to go all out for Cleveland.

Naturally, I was disappointed with Game 2, but I wasn't about to switch teams.

Saturday morning here, my son had to be at his school; I took him and my wife there just after the game started and due to a few SNAFU, I had to drive to the school a couple of times before the game ended. I had to pick them up and bring them home during the bottom of the ninth inning. I was confident that the Cubs wouldn't score in there final inning, but I wish I could have seen the end. A one run lead is a nail biter.

It would be Sunday morning here for Game 4. Not wanting to miss Mass, I went to the vigil Mass Saturday night.

Needless to say, I enjoyed this game more than I had Games 2 and 3. Two didn't go my way, and 3 was too close for comfort.

Monday morning's game (AKA Sunday night in US) will be the final game in Chicago. I'm hoping it will also be the final game in the 2016 World Series. The Cubs haven't won a World Series since 1908 and I'm sure many Cubs fans will be devastated to see their team lose all three of their games at home, but as Tom Hanks so aptly told us, there's no crying in baseball.

Game Two

In yesterday's post [World Series 2016 Game One] I mentioned that, because I had no emotional involvement with either the Cubs nor the Indians, it made little difference to me which team wins the 2016 World Series. In the aftermath of yesterday's game, my view towards the teams changed slightly.

I was much more impressed with Cleveland's performance in game one, and when I learned that Hillary Clinton claimed to be a Cubs fan, it was much easier for me to root for the Indians. Today's game was very much different from the first. It was as if two different teams were playing. To say that I was disappointed in Cleveland's game would be an under statement.

Also, yesterday, I wrote that I "suspected" that Cleveland would win the World Series this year. I may have spoken too soon, but the odds still appear in their favor. Home team, won first game. That's a good sign. AL teams have won the series more often - another good sign. Lastly, even though Cleveland hasn't won the World Series since 1948, the Cubs were in a 40 year slump then - which they've yet to pull out of.

Again, I'd rather see the Cleveland Indians win this year, but if the Chicago Cubs win, I won't shed any tears.

The next three games will be Saturday, Sunday and Monday mornings Philippines time. Looks like I'll need to find something else to blog on until then.

World Series 2016 Game One.

Now that I'm retired and living outside the U.S., I try to watch Major League Baseball when ever I can. There are a number of reasons for that. One, because I don't have to sent my time to a work schedule, I don't have to worry about games interfering with a job. Secondly, it is nice to be a part of something going on in the United States. Unfortunately, I'm unable to watch college football here - no SEC - but Fox Sports 2 does show MLB regularly. I'm not anal about the sport. I don't have to follow the games obsessively, but I do enjoy the opportunity to watch a game fairly regularly.

I've been looking forward to watching this year's World Series. I'm not emotionally involved with either Chicago or Cleveland. It doesn't really matter a great deal to me which team wins - as long as the games are played well.

Due to the time difference, the first game of the series began at 8:00 AM today - Philippine time. I'd have plenty of time to take my son to school and return home to watch the game. The only drawback is that I need to fetch my son around 11:30 AM for lunch, which means with the 10 to 15 minute drive time to his school, I have to leave before the bottom of the eight inning. After Chicago missed their chance in the 7th and 8th innings, I was confident that Cleveland would win the game while I was on my way to pick my son, but I was surprised when I returned and discovered - via the Internet - that Cleveland doubled their score in the eight.

It was announced during the game that tomorrow's game will be moved ahead one hour due to the possibility of bad weather in Cleveland. That means the game will begin at 7:00 AM Philippine time and I should be able to watch the entire game before time to fetch my son for lunch.

Three hours before the game, Dana Perino was asked by one of her co-anchors on The Five which team she believed would win the World Series. I'm not sure why her prediction would be any better or worse than anyone else. She said she'd wait until after she watched the first game before predicting the final winner. I have no inside information, but I suspect Perino will pick the Cleveland Indians. If she does, I suspect she'll be correct.

Our Latest Trip to Cebu City

Our recent trip to Cebus had its own positive and negative aspects - its own ups and downs - its own Yin and Yang.

My original plan was to take the first fast craft leaving Sibulan for Liloan, Santander at 5:00 AM. With the time involved in traveling by water, then the bus ride from Santander to the South Bus Terminal, we should arrive in Cebu by 10:00 AM. With luck, we might be able to finish our business with Immigration in time for the last bus returning to Santander that afternoon.

Unfortunately, a defective alarm clock put the kibosh on that plan. We woke up too late for the 5:00 AM departure, taking the 7:00 AM trip instead.

The heavy traffic from the South Bus Terminal to the J Centre Mall, where the Immigration office is located, didn't help either.

On the positive side, everything went better than expected at Immigration. I was able to get my I-Card with only a five minute wait. Getting all the paper work, for my status conversion from probationary resident to permanent stamped, approved and paid for, also went surprisingly well. The fee turned out to be 2000 pesos less than I had expected, and on top of that, we were finished by 2:00 PM. We wouldn't be able to make the last bus to Santander, but it was theoretically possible to catch the last bus going via ferry to Dumaguete. We might not have to spend the night in Cebu after all.

The 10 kilometer taxi ride from the Mall back to the terminal took two hours. We had even bypassed stopping at Krispy Kreme in hopes of still making the bus.

We did make it in time for the last bus, but it was so crowded, and we were so far back in the pack, taking the bus would have involved standing for the five hour trip. We weren't up to that.

My wife and I decided, instead, to head the the hotel where we normally go when staying over night in Cebu. Fortunately for us, there's a suitable cafe adjacent to the hotel. We could get a decent meal and go to bed at a respectable 7:00 PM.

Up before four, we were out of the hotel by 5:00 AM, and in a taxi heading for the terminal. We managed to get a light, non-nutritious breakfast across the street from the terminal and were able to catch the first bus to Santander. It was so early when we left Cebu, the Krispy Kreme located not too far from the hotel was not yet open. We would be leaving the city sans glazed donuts.

We'll be returning to Cebu toward the end of next week for an interview with Immigration. The appointment time is 10:00 AM which means we'll have no other option than to travel to Cebu the day before the interview. We'll be able to be at the Immigration when it opens at 8:00 AM and with a bit of luck, we might even be able to bump up the interview time. Stranger things have happened.

Even with the scheduled 10:00 AM interview, we'll have no problem getting the afternoon Santander bus. We might even have time to go by Krispy Kreme.

Cigarettes in Sibulan

Back in the late 1950's, before my two youngest siblings were born, our family lived in Atlanta, GA in a neighborhood not too far from Georgia Tech. In those days, 1958/1959 when I was 6 or 7 years old, I can remember my dad giving me a Quarter - 25¢. - and sending me to a nearby store to buy a pack of cigarettes for him.

My, how things have changed. Today a parent in Atlanta could not send his or her child to purchase cigarettes. The store could not sell cigarettes to anyone that young, and the Government would probably charge the parent with child abuse.

Needless to say. cigarettes in Atlanta no longer cost 25¢. I don't have first hand knowledge of the current price, but one website gives the cost (as of April 22, 2016) of a pack of Marlboro at $5.23 (Php245).

Compare that price to the price for Marlboro in Sibulan, Negros Oriental. Passing a sari sari store today during my morning walk, I took this photo showing the price as 3 php per "stick". Most Filipinos buy cigarettes by the individual cigarette, not by the pack. At 3 php per stick, a pack of Marlboro would cost 60 pesos - at the current rate of exchange, that comes to apprx. $1.30 a pack.

Off brand cigarettes are even cheaper. At one sari sari, I saw a sign for one particular brand at 2 sticks for 5 pesos. That's 50 pesos for a pack of 20. At another sari sari , I saw a sign for a different off brand at 2 pesos each, or 38 pesos a pack (discounted from 40 pesos per 20).

I don't think I need to mention this, but the low cost of cigarettes in Philippines won't lead me to smoke the damn things. I'm not advocating cigarette smoking, merely making an observation.

Nacho Dad's Tortilla

Back in January, when it was snowing in most of the U.S., I wrote a post about some things I missed, as well as things I didn't miss, about not living in the United States. For the most part, the only things I really miss (other than seeing my siblings from time to time) are certain American foods that aren't so easy to come by here in Negros Oriental.

In the earlier post, I mentioned the difficulty in getting a decent hamburger. The situation is a little better. I should have mentioned the burger at Gabby's Bistro.....the burgers there aren't half bad. Pretty good, as a matter of fact.

The pizza situation hasn't gotten any better. The cheese and the toppings in most pizza places are OK, but you can forget about getting a good crust. Just not available.

One food item that my son and I really miss is the burrito. Not only are there no Mexican restaurants but there aren't even the fast food pseudo-Mexican eateries, like Taco Bell, here. Most of the grocery stores in my old home town sold prepackaged tortillas. When push came to shove, you could always make an OK burrito with those, but finding tortillas here are another kettle of fish, so to speak.

The closest thing to a burrito in Dumaguete, is a food borrowed from the Middle East, called a shawarma. There are lots of overseas worker from Philippines in the Arab countries, and I suppose the shawarma was brought here that way. Unfortunately, a shawarma isn't a burrito - heck, a Filipino shawarma isn't really a shawarma. The shawarmas available in Dumaguete have the ground beef, cheese. It's almost burritoesque, except for the shredded cabbage and garlic sauce. Don't get me wrong. A Dumaguete shawarma tastes pretty good, but it's not a burrito and will never be an adequate replacement when a burrito is what you're craving.

Tonight, I took matters into my own hands. I was going to make burritos for supper tonight, or die trying.

Getting the meat is easy. We don't have to worry about chili powder either; we've loads of that too. Cheese - also no problem. The only catch is the elusive tortilla.

I love the Internet. You may not be able to download a tortilla, but you can download a tortilla recipe.

I'm posting the recipe I used tonight to make home made tortillas. They turned out rather well - a little smaller than the recipe says, but still tasty. Sorry, no photos. You'll just have to take my word for it.

Homemade Flour Tortillas

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
   
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
   
1 teaspoon salt
   
2 teaspoons vegetable oil or non-hydrogenated lard
   
3/4 cup lukewarm milk

Directions

Stir the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a mixing bowl. Add vegetable oil to the lukewarm milk and briefly whisk to incorporate. Slowly add the milk to the flour mixture. Work the mixture with your hands until it turns into a sticky dough.

 Place dough onto a surface dusted with flour. Knead vigorously for about 2 minutes or until dough is no longer sticky.

Return dough to bowl. Cover bowl with a damp cloth and allow to rest for 10 -20 minutes so it becomes easier to roll out.

Divide dough into 8 balls of equal size. Cover and let rest again for another 20 minutes. Avoid letting them touch if you don’t want them to stick together.

Dust a clean pastry board or surface with flour.

Remove each piece of dough one at a time. Press it out into a 5-inch circle then flatten with tortilla press. If using a flour dusted rolling pin, roll out the tortilla from the center out until the tortilla measures a little less than 1/4 inch thick and is a 7 or 8 inch circle.

Transfer the tortilla to a dry preheated skillet or griddle. When the tortilla begins to blister, allow it to cook for 30 seconds, flip it and cook the other side the same way.

Remove the tortilla, place it in on a clean paper towel and cover loosely with foil. Repeat for remaining tortillas.

Wrap extra tortillas tightly in plastic, removing any air pockets. Tortillas freeze well and will keep frozen for several weeks.

To serve tortillas which have been frozen, thaw them at room temperature, wrap in foil then heat in a warm oven.

Butternut Squash Update

On Friday, April 29, I posted an update on the butternut squash, and the failure of the okra seeds to germinate. I had even posted what I thought were very good photos of the squash plants. What can't be seen in those photos, are the tiny yellow flowers which had begun to appear on the plants.

As I also mentioned in the same post, we'd be making preparations for a piggery to be built on the property. I even had plans to supplement the pigs' diet with butternut squash one day.

Well, we all know about the best laid plans of mice and men.......

The material needed to build the piggery was delivered a few days ago. We went to the property this afternoon to document the progress with photos, where we discovered that the butternut squash plants had been destroyed by the delivery men.

My plans for vegetable gardening in Philippines have not worked as well as I had hoped. The squash seeds were the only ones I had been able to germinate, and now the squash has been, uh, well.....squashed. I still have seeds, but if I try to sprout them, my heart may not be in it.

Waiting For Rain.........

........is like waiting for Godot.

For the third day, dark clouds have gathered, coming in from the ocean and teasing us into believing it might rain.

I did feel one rain drop while walking home from the market. But, no rain so far.

The Accuweather forecast calls for a few showers today and a thunderstorm tomorrow. I hope so.

As I've noted before, we are experiencing a drought. This is normally a dry season in Negros Oriental, but it's being made worse by an El Niño which some are saying is being made worse by climate change.

As one can see by the screenshot, today's high will be 34 with a "RealFeel" of 45. For my American friends.....that's Celsius not Fahrenheit. In Fahrenheit that would be 93.2 and 113.

My Haunted PC

Today is my 64th birthday, and to celebrate, my son and I went to the gym. In addition to our workout, I wanted photos.

I brought along the Canon; J.P. took photos of me and I took photos of him. The store owner took two photos of J.P. and I together.

I have a USB thingamajig which holds the memory card of my Canon which allows me to download the photos onto my PC. There, I'll edit the photos and store them away. After the photos are transfered, I'll delete the folder from the camera. That's where the problem arose this morning.

I guess it comes down to dust. When we were in the U.S., I would regularly purchase canned air from Wally World and blow out the PC. I haven't done such a good job of that since arriving in Philippines. The cans of compressed air are difficult to find and are very expensive when you do find them. As a consequence, I've allowed the dust to build up more than I should.

Dust has accumulated inside the USB terminals. I'm not connected via cable or wire to the Internet - I use another USB thingamajig to connect via wifi. When I connect my camera's USB thingamajig to transfer the photos, somehow this additional USB device will cause the wifi USB to disconnect from the Internet. It doesn't happen every time, but often enough.

I've often suspected that the problem is due to the dust build up.

After transfering this morning's gym photos to the PC, I did a wee bit of image scaling with GIMP and set about to upload a few of the photos to Facebook. You know where this is headed. I had lost Internet connection. This reoccuring problem is fixed by removing the camera USB and rebooting the PC. That's when the spooks attacked the PC.

The PC would not restart. I was getting a message that a start up repair was required. Unfortunately, when doing this, the system created a restore point which was before this morning's photos were put onto the PC. So, when the PC finally started, the photos had disappeared. As far as Windows was concerned, the photos had never been on my PC.

I had deleted the photos earlier from the camera's memory card and now it was as if the photos had never existed. Gone.

After this disaster, I decided that enough was enough. I unplugged everything from the PC and carried it to a computer repair place in Sibulan where they used a small air compressor to blow out the dust. The dust looked thick on top of the PC innards, but I was really surprised at the amount that was blown out.

Total cost: 150 peso (roughly three bucks and change). That's a lot cheaper than the elusive cans of air - when they can be found. I'll definitely be going back regularly.

When I plugged everything back in and rebooted the PC, there was another sytem restore point message. This time, when the PC restarted, the gym photos had magically returned.

The thing is haunted.....that's all there is to it.

The Butternut Squash

Late yesterday afternoon, we took our butternut squash plants out to our property in Magatas where we had recently cleared alway some of the growth.

I'm not at all certain that the plants will survive. We are currently experiencing a drought in Philippines and it maybe too much for the squash to survive. There is a natural spring nearby and water can be toted to the plants......but I'm still doubtful.

We can only wait and see.

Before and After Shots

The top photo was originally posted on April, 07. The lower photo shows the results of a minor clean-up done on the 8th.

Obviously, we have a long way to go, but I promised to post before and after pics.

This spot is where the house will eventually be built - in the mean time, however, I'll plant a little butternut squash.

A section also shown in the April, 07 photos, although not shown here, will be put to use as a piggery after my next payday. Of course, there will be photos of that project as well.

Summer Vacation

Due to changes being made in the Filipino school year, this past Wednesday was the start of J.P.'s summer vacation. He doesn't return to school until sometime in August. He deserves a long vacation. When we arrived here from the U.S., his year in the 2nd grade had just ended and his start of 3rd grade in Philippines was almost immediate. His vacation between 2nd and 3rd grades was less than 2 weeks.

Even though he has an extra long vacation this year, I don't plan on his time being idle.

He's typical of many kids growing up in the digital age. His reading is below par. I've told him that the number of books he'll read this year WILL increase. No more spending so much time on the phone or PC. Less TV. More Harry Potter.

Another change planned for this summer is to increase his physical activity. The amount of weight he's put on since we purchased the Wii disturbs me and his mother.

This morning brought in a change in his exercise routine. At 7:00 AM, he and I walked the kilometer from the apartment to the gym where I work out. Together, he and I did 45 minutes of weight training. Of course, my routine was modified for him. Naturally, the weights he used were considerably less than what I'd normally use. We want him to exercise, not hurt himself. Not only were the weights lower for him, but I did fewer "sets" for each of the exercises. Where I would have normally done four sets of a particular exercise, I reduced the number of sets this time to two. We'll increase the number of sets as time goes on.

I have to be careful that I maintain a good workout for me. The lower number of sets will still allow me to tone the muscles. I can always increase my weights if I sense I'm falling behind.

After the weight training, we headed back toward the apartment, taking a detour to the beach for twenty or thirty minutes in the ocean.

From the beach, it was the final walk home. We left the apartment at 7:00 and arrived back at 9:20. It was quite a pleasant morning for father and son.

Property Update

As mentioned in an earlier post, we'll be cleaning up the property in Magatas to make a place for a garden. We'll eventually put the house out there, but in the mean time setting aside a portion for a garden seems like a good idea.

Before we start on the house, we'll also need to redo the fence to adjust to the new area we recently purchased.

These photos were taken this morning - Apr.07, 2016. Tomorrow, we'll start working. It'll be after next payday - maybe the weekend of the 23rd - before we purchase the fencing materials. We'll hire someone to make the cement posts; Cathy's dad says that'll be cheaper than buying ready made posts. If he can get hold of a post hole digger, it should only a day or two to redo the fence.

Of course, I'll try to keep up with the before and after photos.

Seedlings Update.

These photos of my butternut squash plants were taken this morning. As one can see, the plants are nearly ready to be transplanted into the ground. We'll be going to our property today or tomorrow to clean out a place. One can compare these photos to photos taken 2 weeks ago.

I've given up on the tomato seeds. I started the tomatoes about 10 days before the butternut squash with nary a sprout. Just a few minutes ago, I put okra seeds into the containers that contained the tomato seeds. I'm hoping to have better luck with the okra.

That's too bad. I like okra ......I'm a typical Southerner, but, I prefer tomatoes. It's a shame that I've been unable to get any of those seeds to sprouts. I do have other tomato seed varieties; I'll try those after the squash is in the ground.

Sure, I Can Adapt.

I prefer having a routine. I'd like to think that I'm not compulsive concerning any routine I follow, but I enjoy the feeling of having a certain amount of control in life. Spontaneity can be OK, but chaos can drive me up the wall.

Having made this my home for nearly two years, my circadian rhythm has been set to the pattern of the rising and setting of the sun in Philippines. I'm awake every morning about 5 o'clock. Depending on the month, the sun rises in Dumaguete between 5:30 and 6:00. By 6:00, I've had coffee and I'm ready to start my day.

There's only one gym where I can workout in Sibulan . It's a kilometer from our apartment; walking there before my workout with the free weights is a nice warm up. When I first started a membership at the gym, I was told that it opened every morning at 6 o'clock. It didn't take long to find out that that is not exactly true. The gym is on the 2nd floor of a store, and while it's not necessary for either of the gym's owners to be there, the store owner has to be there. I can't get inside the store building otherwise and he won't be there that early.

I don't go to the gym every day - usually just four days a week. I have the store owner's mobile number, and I used to send a text to him just before leaving the apartment so he could be there to open the door. When that plan didn't work, we settled on my leaving the apartment at seven, which would me put at the gym about 7:20. That seemed to work better for the store owner, although he still isn't able to be on time every day. This morning he was 20 minutes late.

I don't like getting up at 5:00 and then having to wait until 8:00 to get started, so I've decided to modify my routine - again.

Rather than do the "long" walk 2 days a week and doing the "short" walk on gym days, I'm going to try and do the "long" walk six days a week. On those days, I walk four or five kilometers. Starting Monday, I'll walk my four kilometers and wait until about 9 before going to the gym. I'll wait until Monday to decide whether I'll walk the additional kilometer to the gym or drive there. The decision will depend on how tired I am after the "long" walk, as well as the outside temperature. If it's too hot out by 9:00, I'll not feel up to the additional walk.

This new routine will serve two purposes. This new walking schedule should add an extra 10 kilometers a week. (more if I also walk to the gym later). I'll also be arriving at the gym at a time when I know the doors will be open. No more standing around outside the store waiting on the owner to let me in.

The Detour

In countries around the world where government officials are chosen through reasonably fair democratic elections, the politicians share one common attribute; they wish to be reelected and desperately try to convince the voters to put them back into office.

It's easy to see that this is an election year in Philippines. Through out the country, money to repair roads and bridges has miraculously appeared in government budgets. Before you folks in the United States become too smug, let's look at the situation there. Every election year, politicians promise to release funds for repairing the infrastructure when they are reelected. They're put in office and the repairs are not made. In 2008, Obama made repairing the infrastructure a major objective. Now, 8 years later, Hillary Clinton is making the same promise because the infrastructure is in need of repair. At least in Philippines, the roads do get repaired every four years.

One such repair job being done now is on a bridge between our apartment and the Poblacion area of the town. A temporary wooden bridge has been erected to allow passage via motorcycle or foot. Cars, trucks and tricycles have to choose an alternate route.

The most obvious route is taking the road going in the opposite direction toward the highway at Maslog. It's not exactly convenient.

Signs have been posted showing an alternate detour going from Cangmating to Poblacion. Cathy and I accidentally came upon that route months ago before the construction began on the bridge. The distance is shorter than going through Maslog, but unfortunately it's not a viable option. Only about 1/4 of the road is paved. The remaining 3/4 is very bumpy and I'm sure it's not good for an auto's suspension. I suppose if one were driving a company delivery truck where the vehicle's suspension was not your problem it could be different, but the road is too narrow for large trucks to travel.

Last year, the Via Crucis walk went from the church in Poblacion through Magatas and back to the church. The original plan for this Good Friday was to walk from Poblacion through Cangmating. This would have put the walk going past our apartment. The bridge work put a stop to that plan. The vehicle leading the Via Crucis can't finish the route. Not only that, but having the hundreds - if not thousands - walk across the narrow wooden bridge wouldn't be safe. This year, the Via Crucis will follow last year's route through Magatas.

Update on the Routine

I wrote in a post from yesterday that I'd be making changes in my workout routine this week, partly due to this week being Holy Week and the gym being closed on Good Friday.

My son is out of school for the remainder of the week so there was no reason for me to get out of bed as early as on a normal week day, but my circadian rhythm saw otherwise.

Upon waking, I had a cup of coffee while watching a few minutes of The Five on Fox News before beginning on my Sun Salutation sequence.

It's been quite a long time since I last did these asanas and wasn't able to do as many "sets" as I would have liked to have done. I'll work up to it, I'm sure.

A little after 6 AM, I headed out for a walk. For those familiar with the area, I walked from near the Ice Plant in Cangmating to the Petron Station by the entrance to the airport. That's a tiny bit longer than a five kilometer walk, there and back.

Tomorrow I'll repeat the routine.

I believe I've made the right decision. I have a little muscular pain; it won't hurt to take off from the gym for a few extra days.

The photo?

I took this photo a few months ago on one of my walks to the highway. I was noticing today that there's been a little work done on the building in the photo. I'll bring my camera along with me in the morning and we'll compare.